Tag Archive for: mrt

North Macedonia’s national broadcaster, MRT, is considering the possibility of returning to the Eurovision Song Contest in 2025, despite the fact that Eurovision funding is not included in its recently published annual budget. This leaves a window of opportunity for the country’s participation.

The Program Council of MRT, consisting of eleven members who oversee all programming decisions, has agreed to discuss North Macedonia’s potential return to Eurovision in a meeting held on October 22. This decision followed a request from Macedonian Eurovision fans, urging MRT to reconsider their participation.

The Council’s President, Mrs. Smiljka Janeska Sarkanjac, stated that a special meeting would be needed to thoroughly discuss the matter and expressed her support for the country’s return to the contest. Mrs. Sarkanjac highlighted the importance of participating in international events such as Eurovision, even if the country does not achieve top rankings every year:

“The Program Council of MRT has agreed for three consecutive years that Eurovision participation should not be canceled, even if we are unable to secure high placements. Every opportunity for North Macedonia to be represented on an international platform must not be missed. MRT exists to create and promote local music and culture, and we cannot easily dismiss such an opportunity for exposure.”

It is worth noting that North Macedonia withdrew from the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest, citing financial difficulties. Prior to that, the country had participated in every Eurovision contest since 2004.

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for all the latest updates!

With the EBU’s official announcement of the list of 37 countries that will take part in Eurovision 2024, it also clarified the cloudy landscape regarding the participation of North Macedonia in the upcoming song contest. The small Balkan country for the second year in a row will stay away from the contest. With today’s announcement, they explain the reasons for their abstention.

Earlier it had become clear that North Macedonia might return to Malmö, after its absence this year. Its participation in Junior Eurovision 2023 a few days ago, but also the fact that in the budget of the country’s public television there was also a small amount for participation in Eurovision, were elements that had left open the possibility that the country would return in 2024. Finally all these expectations were denied with the official announcement of the list of countries that will be present in May in Sweden.

 

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Today, with its announcement, the public television of North Macedonia explains the reasons for its abstention for the second year in a row. According to what it posted on its website, MRT justifies its absence from Eurovision 2024, due to its limited budget, which for 2024 it intends to allocate to events for the 80 years of radio and the 60 years of television in the country.

This decision is in the interest of the citizens, considering that next year the MRT will focus on celebrating 80 years of Macedonian Radio and 60 years of Macedonian Television.

North Macedonia’s public television left open the possibility of a return in 2025, if circumstances allow.

In our opinion, the fact that more and more economically weaker countries decide to stay away from the competition due to the increasing participation fees year after year, is an important wake-up call for the EBU, which must deal with the issue. For 2024 four more Balkan countries are absent from the contest:

• Bulgaria is absent for the second consecutive year due to a tight financial budget.
• Montenegro is also absent for the second consecutive year, without explanation, although in this case economic reasons are the most likely reason.
• Bosnia-Herzegovina continues to stay away from the competition, with its last participation being in 2016. A very large debt to the EBU prevents the country from returning.
• Romania, although it is not certain that it will stay away from Eurovision 2024, was not in the list of countries announced by the EBU. Decisions on Romania’s  participation or not will be made in the next period of time, since discussions continue both within the country’s public television and with the EBU.

Greece, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia and Albania are the only Balkan countries still participating, with some of them also facing financial issues, which put their future participation in the competition in doubt.

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for all the developments!